The 1st Cossack Cavalry Division (german: 1. Kosaken-Kavallerie-Division) was a Russian

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

division of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

that served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly out of

Don Cossacks Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...

already serving in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

, those who escaped from the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

and Soviet

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

. In 1944, the division was transferred to the

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

, becoming part of the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps, established in February 1945. At the end of the war, the unit ceased to exist. It was one of two cossack cavalry divisions, the other being the 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division.

Origin

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

authorised the formation of the division on 6 April 1943, ordering that all Cossacks serving in the Wehrmacht to be concentrated into the division.

Formation and training

The division was and trained at Mielau ( Mława) in the spring-summer of 1943. The Cossacks brought their wives and children with them, forcing the Germans to establish another camp to house the dependents. The division was formed starting 4 August 1943 by merging the Cossack regiments Platow and von Jungschulz under the command of the Reiterverband Pannwitz, all of which existed since 1942. To these further new regiments were added. Some of the other units brought in were the Cossack Reconnaissance Battalion led by the Don Cossack

Nikolai Nazarenko Nikolai Grigorievich Nazarenko (19 December 1911 – 20 November 1992) was a Don Cossack emigre leader who served as president of the World Federation of the Cossack National Liberation Movement of Cossackia and the Cossack American Republican Nati ...

; the Cossack Detachment 600 led by Ivan Kononov, also a Don Cossack; and a force of Terek Cossacks led by ''

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; Russian: атаман, uk, отаман) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military command ...

'' Nikolai Kulakkov of the Terek Host.

Composition

Many of the German officers were

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

émigrés who possessed the necessary knowledge of Russian. However, owing to a shortage of officers with the necessary Russian language skills, the Wehrmacht was forced to relax its policy against accepting émigré officers, and a number of Cossack émigré officers living in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

(modern

Czechia The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Cz ...

) were recruited into the division. Other officers were the sons of Cossack émigrés who had served in the armies of

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

before the war. A disproportionate number of the German officers were cavalrymen, and of these officers Austrians were over-represented as it was felt that Austrians were more "tactful" in dealing with Slavs rather than the Prussians.

Anti-Partisan operations

Initially organized to fight the Red Army in Southern Russia, the division was deployed to the puppet

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

, where they were placed under the command of the

Second Panzer Army The 2nd Panzer Army (german: 2. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 2nd Panzer Group on October 5, 1941. Organisation Panzer Group Guderian (german: Panzergruppe Guderian) was formed on 5 June 194 ...

and were used to protect the railroad line from Austria through

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

. Some units were also used to fight partisans. The division's first fighting engagement was on 12 October 1943, when it was dispatched against Yugoslav partisans in the

Fruška Gora Fruška gora ( sr-Cyrl, Фрушка гора; hu, Tarcal-hegység) is a mountain in Syrmia, administratively part of Serbia with a part of its western side extending into eastern Croatia. The area under Serbian administration forms the country ...

Mountains. In the operation the Cossacks, aided by 15 tanks and one armored car, captured the village of Beocin, the location of a partisan HQ. During that operation many villages were burned, including a monastery on Fruška Gora, and around 300 innocent Serbian villagers were killed. Subsequently, the unit was used to protect the Zagreb-Belgrade railroad and the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

Valley. Several regiments of the division took part in security warfare (

Bandenbekämpfung In German military history, ''Bandenbekämpfung'' (German; ), also Nazi security warfare (during World War II), refers to the concept and military doctrine of countering resistance or insurrection in the rear area during wartime through e ...

) and guarded the Sarajevo railroad. As part of a wide security sweep, ''Napfkuchen'', the Cossack division was transferred to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

, where it fought against partisans and

Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royali ...

in 1944. While in Croatia the division quickly established a reputation for undisciplined and ruthless behavior, not only towards the partisans but also the civilian population, prompting Croatian authorities to complain to the Germans and finally to

personally. Besides raping women, killing people and plundering and burning towns suspected of harboring partisans and their supporters, the division used telegraph poles along the railroad tracks for mass hangings as a warning to the partisans and others. Although the behavior of the Cossacks was not as ruthless as portrayed by Partisan propaganda, nevertheless during its first two months of deployment in Croatia, special divisional courts-martial imposed at least 20 death sentences in each of the four regiments for related crimes. The Cossacks' first engagement against the Red Army occurred in December 1944 near

Pitomača Pitomača is a municipality in Croatia in the Virovitica–Podravina County. It has a population of 10,059 ( 2011 census), of whom 98.62% are Croats. History Since the end of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, Pitomača (named ''PITOMACA'' be ...

. The fighting resulted in Soviet withdrawal from the area.

Transfer to Waffen-SS

In December 1944 the 1st Cossack Division was transferred to the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

and reorganized by the SS Führungshauptamt until 30 April 1945. Together with a 2nd Cossack Division it became part of the newly formed XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps.

Aftermath

At the end of the war Cossacks of the division retreated into

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and surrendered to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

troops. They were promised safety by the British but were subsequently forcibly transferred to the USSR. The majority of those, who did not manage to escape, went into the labour camps of the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

. The German and Cossack leadership were tried, sentenced to death and executed in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in early 1947. The remaining officers and other ranks who survived the labour camps were released after Stalin's death in 1953.

Commanders

*Lt. Gen. Helmuth von Pannwitz (Sep 1943 – Feb 1945) **Col. Hans-Joachim von Schultz, Chief of Staff *Col. von Baath (Feb – ? 1945) *Col.

Alexander von Boesse Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1945) *Col. Konstantin Wagner (1945).

Order of battle

In 1944 the division was composed of the following units:

1st Cossack Cavalry Brigade ''Don''

*1st (Don) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *2nd (Ural) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *3rd (Sswodno) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment ''Don''

2nd Cossack Cavalry Brigade

*4th (Kuban) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *5th (Don) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *6th (Terek) Cossack Cavalry Regiment *Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment ''Kuban''

Divisional units

*55th Reconnaissance Battalion *55th (Kuban) Cossack Horse Artillery Regiment *1st Cossack Engineer Battalion *55th Cossack Engineer Battalion *1st Signal Battalion

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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